


Tomorrow is for Dreams

by Gaudan



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Drama & Romance, F/M, Insecurity, Smut, Zelda-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:15:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28534266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaudan/pseuds/Gaudan
Summary: As Zelda travels through the Lost Woods to deliver the master sword to the Great Deku Tree, she is near death and lost.  During these final moments of her mortal life, she contemplates the events that have led to this.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21





	1. Shadows of Desire

Zelda spent an appalling amount of her childhood contemplating her own death. Her mother believed her to be a morbid child, but she disagreed. She knew her mother simply lacked the vision required to read the writing on the wall. Zelda had dreamed of many ways death would come. Of all the possibilities, she was certain of one aspect – it would not be the end for her. Instead, she would take up space in her own lonely hell.

She thinks of this as she stumbles through The Lost Woods, filthy and bleeding, following the trails that lead her to nowhere. It may be the fifth path she has tried, but she cannot be sure – she has lost count. Clumps of mud covering her body enhance the painful chaffing between her thighs and beneath her breasts. She tries to focus on this pain instead of the wound on her arm leaking blood at a dangerous rate. Or worse, the fresh memory of a lifeless Link in her arms.

“You’re almost there princess! Don’t give up!” A sweet, otherworldly voice twinkles around her. She cannot identify where it comes from, only that its words are not true, but all the same, she allows it to heal her like fairy dust.

This is the beginning of her march to hell. Light spots disrupt her vision. Her limbs are a burden to carry. She considers cutting an arm off.

Her mind drifts to the memories of the first time she visited The Lost Woods. The magic of it was mystifying. Link had patiently waited for her to take photographs of the wildlife and plants. It is one of her fondest memories; one of the few moments in which she chose to forget their collective ill fate. She recalls the beautiful way he tilted his head up at her with dreamy eyes as she cupped a flower in her palms and brought it to her nose. The light had shone through the trees on Link, giving his golden hair an ethereal glow. They locked eyes, and she looked away. She always wished she had photographed him in that moment. A moment too pure for her to covet.

“Don’t cry, princess! It makes me sad to see you cry.” It says again. She didnt know she was crying.

“I’m fine! I’m just so very lonely!” The confession comes straight from her gut where it had been stewing in chunks of vomit. She drops to her knees and retches.

The dreadful darkness and swirling mists surround her again. It sinks into her pores and settles behind her eyes, threatening to wash away her awareness completely. Desperation keeps her from blanking out.

“No no no no noooooo!” She pleads. “Please! Help me! I haven’t the time! They’re dead and dying but maybe I can still save them still! I just need more time and a bit of guidance! Someone help me…” She hyperventilates between body racking sobs. The cheery laughter is the last thing she hears before she is tossed back to the same wretched place. She slams her fist into the dirt and collapses onto her belly. The master sword falls next to her, glowing impatiently.

After sobbing for a disgraceful amount of time, Zelda turns her face to it. Dirt and tears are smeared down her cheeks. The sourness of her vomit coats her parched throat. She licks her lips and coughs violently.

“Its just the two of us now.” She speaks to it in a scratchy voice. “Please give me his strength as he has given it to me many times before. I need it one last time.” Her dry eyes burn. Dehydration makes her tears lessen in size. She reaches out to weakly grip the hilt of the sword. It takes all her strength to pick herself up off the ground. 

“I don’t have much left in me. Its almost time for me to sleep.” Her voice quivers. Hell is coming to Zelda at a brisk pace. She is ready to surrender to the death she has always known was coming. This is not the issue. If she had known she was going to fail the people she loved, she would have killed herself to allow the birth of a predecessor to correct her shortcomings. She is a defect.

Its too late for misgivings, Zelda reprimands herself. She did not step aside and accept her failure, so now she must finish correcting her mistakes to the extent of her capabilities. If Link were still here, he would optimistically assure her she did everything she could, but she would know this to be false. Her father would tell her the truth. He loved her, but he understood the full weight of her value to the world. He also understood that she would never be able to pull her weight.

“Father…I’m so sorry…” She stumbles over her feet and catches her balance against a tree. Her chest heaves from exertion. She may not make it if she doesn’t arrive soon.

Her eyelashes flutter as she attempts to correct her blurring vision. The trees hold their breath around her, giving the air a stagnancy that makes her feel that her soul has already escaped her own body. They stand in utter indifference to her plight. Her senses are gone except for a steady ringing in her head. She moves in slow motion. It occurs to her that she is connected to the spirit world when she sees the figures moving away from her. She tries to reach for one, but it’s as if they aren’t quite existing on the same realm. They look right through her.

The unknown figures walk around as if they are all attendants of the same party, sweeping around with intent, interacting with erratic gestures. It all seems familiar – like she has witnessed this scene before. She remembers being invisible just as she is now. A spectator of something too old and complicated for her young mind to comprehend. The figures suddenly stop what they were doing and look at her for the first time. She is struck with familiarity. 

“Its almost time to sleep.” One of them whispers. It dissipates into a cloud of black smoke and whirls around her.

“Come home, princess.” Another does the same. 

She knows this calling. It has been with her since the day she was born. She has slept with it every night as a committed lover. Home was never hers. The ghosts that invade it now have made it her home. Princess Zelda, the destined queen of rot and decay, will soon have her throne. She allows the ghosts to enter her body. They lick at the core of her being, trying to reach the dormant power. She thinks to herself - they’ll never find what’s not there. Still, she allows them to search because it feels good to be invaded by this power. She pants as it sends a wave of ecstasy down her spine. The white hairs on her arms stand straight as her skin breaks out in gooseflesh.

At the height of her elation, she recalls the deadweight of Link in her arms. The master sword burns dangerously in her hand in warning. She blinks. Shame overpowers the remains of her pleasure. She clutches the sword to her chest and it’s as if she is being torn apart while bleach pours into the center of her opened body. Her soul is in turmoil over this betrayal.

 _Link. Link. Link. Link._ She repeats his name. The first person she has ever permitted to invade her body. She clings to his name as the last sliver of hope. Its always been this way. This is precisely why she spent the beginning of their forced acquaintance hating him. It wasn’t until recently that she was compelled to throw herself at his feet. A thin veil of silk had always been there just waiting for her to push aside, and she tore it down in one snatch. 

Link needs her. For once, she can save him instead of the other way around. Her task is so simple. All she needs to do is make it through The Lost Woods without falling to the darkness or her quickly approaching death. She grits her teeth as she struggles against the pain. Her body works with her to purge out the toxic fumes of darkness. Images flash through her mind – her father walking back and forth with his hands linked behind his back, her mother floating absently through the castle gardens, Link crouched behind a rock aiming his bow and arrow with deep concentration furrowing his brows, her wet dress clinging to her as she stands waist deep in the water begging to an empty statue for her birth right.

Zelda exhales shakily as the last of the poison is magically extracted from her body. She doesn’t know how she did it, only that it became involuntary. The same white dress in her memory is clinging to her from her sweat. It trickles down her chest and disappears beneath the top of her dress. 

“Princess! Are you there?” She hears the sweet voice again, and it sends relief all the way down to her toes. The jingling sounds are both near and far. It disorients her.

“I’m here! Tell me - how much time has passed since I entered the forest?” Silence follows her question. They always go silent when she asks for answers. She realizes that its not their place to aide her in this trial. This is for her alone to conquer.

From some hidden, untapped part of her body, she conjures up the strength to remove herself from the tree and takes a step forward. The air is thick with intoxicating darkness and the deep, earthy scents of forest life. She is dizzy but determined to make her way for the sixth time through the dark winding paths through the cold, hollow trees. _Why are the paths to the Great Deku Tree so bleak?_

Zelda ignores the figures following her. She can’t be sure if they are real or if she is hallucinating from her sickness. Its likely the latter. Nothing dead lives here. This forest fosters the ancient power that anchors Hyrule from drifting off into oblivion. 

She plays a game where she imagines she is a child again, not quite oblivious to the truth of being a ghost but not so aware of it that she easily sinks into the dark burrows of the earth. Urbosa is alongside her. They hold hands as they run through knee high grass and wildflowers. Beautiful Urbosa. Tall, radiant, resilient – everything Zelda was supposed to be.

‘I want to grow to be a simple woman.’ She recalls saying to her dear friend. Urbosa had shrugged and simply stated that neither of them would ever know such a concept and that she should not say such things.

Simplicity. Lucidity. Coherence. Her life has lacked this. 

Her life has lacked not only the fulfilled desires of a mortal woman but the fulfillment as a keeper of the triforce. Even now as she holds sacred memories of exploiting the goddess’s power for the first time. Was this all in her mind? Did she make this up because she could not tolerate the knowledge that she failed to save Link? Either way, he is gone. She may have used the power, but it solved nothing. It wasn’t enough.

The ground beneath her becomes unsteady again. Fresh blood flows over the old, dried blood as her movement provokes her wound. White blinding light assaults her vision, and she wonders if this is it. All she can think is that she has failed again, but this was her last chance. She collapses again. The energy that has been tailing her takes shape around her body. She feels suffocated from the thick air filling her lungs. 

_Link. Please forgive me. I couldn’t be what you needed. What Hyrule needed._

She fathoms her soul levitating above her body in the white light before she disconnects from it entirely. Every loose, lingering thought dissipates in the air with it.


	2. Drowning is Beautiful if it is with You

  
A light tickle of wind shakes the leaves overhead and tousles the long strands of Zelda’s hair. This is the first perception she registers upon waking. But that can’t be right. There is no wind in the Lost Woods. Nothing but the old enchantments meant to safeguard Korok Forest where it baths in its light. The second perception is the soreness of her muscles. She feels as if all of her limbs were bound to her body by tight, unrelenting strings. As a puppet of fate, she cannot fight the tug that lifts her head off the ground.

She gasps for air as the hard memories hit her squarely in the chest. The Shrine of Resurrection. The Lost Woods. Hyrule Castle. She is tragically late and so very lost. Her body had given out on her. She clutches her arm and is surprised to find that the wound is completely gone with no trace of it left. For a moment, she worries that she has perished before finishing her task. The dirt is still caked up her arms. 

“I’m…still here?” She asks no one as she sits up.

The heavy weight of her muddy hair makes it hard to balance. Her wounds are completely gone, but she is still incredibly thirsty. That’s a good sign. The dead don’t suffer from thirst.

_Or do they?_

The forest is not as dark. This means she has somehow made it past the tricky paths and may be close to Korok Forest. She has no memory of making it this far. Her skin glows unnaturally from within. She is dizzy with this overwhelming energy that is so peculiar, yet she knows is a part of her just as much as her fingers and toes. She wiggles all of them.

The twinkling noises reach her ears again. Zelda turns her head sharp enough to give herself whiplash. “What has happened to me?” She asks as she scrambles to her feet.

“Twee-hee! Come find me princess.” The voice almost seems to exist on another realm separated from this one by only a thin veil. 

“Oh come now!” Out of habit, she holds the bottom of her dirty dress as she peers around the tree. Wild shrubs scratch her ankles as she steps around them. “I really cannot play. Please, at least tell me this. Am I alive?”

The Korok rattles its shakers. Zelda thinks she knows where it’s coming from. She peeks one eye through a hole of a hollow tree. “I found you!”

It shrieks at the sight of her looming face. “You look alive to me, princess!” The little creature curls into itself, shivering from the sudden scare.

“That’s the problem.” She observes her arms with low-lid despondency. “I should not look this alive right now.” Even her skin has cleared of its irritations. 

Water. She needs water. There is water somewhere in the Lost Woods. If she’s not already dead and hopes to survive until the end, she must find it. No one in their right mind would ever drink from the water of the Lost Woods, but she is out of options. Her instincts tell her to go west. This is where Lake Saria is said to be located within the Lost Woods. 

“Please come with me to Lake Saria.” She begs the Korok.

“Oh no, princess! It’s so scary there.” The Korok waves it arms frantically.

Zelda opens her mouth to argue but closes it before any sound reaches her throat. Why make others suffer with her? She turns away and sets off through the woods alone.

* * *

_It all started when Zelda accompanied Hyrule castle’s main gardener down to Castle Town to gather nutrition for the plants. Her mother had suggested it. Zelda had never been outside of the castle gates, and it would be nice for her to have some exposure to the people she will one day lead._

_The people were in awe at the sight of her. She remembers every person stopping to gape as she walked by._

_‘She’s so beautiful!’_

_‘Is that the princess? I’m speechless!’_

_‘All hail the princess!’ Someone had shouted._

_As a young girl, she was confused by all the attention given to her. All she wanted to do was look at the strange flowers and fruits, exotic jewelry and beautiful garbs being sold by foreign vendors. The interest eventually died down enough for her to focus on the new sights and smells. Castle Town was glorious. It seemed that the sun only shined for that particular section of the world. The spirits of the people were high. Music weaved about in the unoccupied spaces. Fresh baked bread and cakes were abundant._

_But the bright afternoon took a turn when evening arrived. Zelda wandered off on her own without meaning to. Her curiosity led her down a path that veered off to another. Before she knew it, she was underground, carefully stepping over dirt and stone, squeezing her way through bars._

_She had made her way to a hidden dungeon, reinforced with old spells to keep in the most dangerous criminals. This is what called her. The old magic. It tickled her nose until she followed it down._

_An old woman gripped the bars tightly. Her eyes were clouded from blindness. Despite this, she stared straight at Zelda in a way that had caused her soul to curl into itself. She cracked a black, toothless smile at her._

_“You’re the one! You’re the one!” She chanted joyously._

_Zelda breath caught in her chest. She almost ran but an unnatural forced anchored her down. “The one?” She asked._

_Her smile suddenly dropped and the air went thin. Something was very wrong. Even as a child, she could sense this._

_“You shall be the first to leave the prophesy unfulfilled. Your path will be different from the ones that came before you. You will die. You will never rest. This is the price you will pay for your greatness.” She spoke to Zelda’s soul._

_Zelda’s blood turned cold. She could not move her entire body. It shook involuntarily. Quiet tears slid down her cheeks._

_The old woman’s energy returned to its previous state. She resumed her cheerful babbling. Zelda ran off to find the gardener._

_Since that day, Zelda dreamed of death every night. Half of her prayers to the Goddesses were requests for the power she was supposed to have. The other half of her prayed for an ordinary life. A garden, a research lab, a husband and five babies._

  
  


* * *

The taps of Zelda’s steady footsteps give off no echo. Just sloppy smacks that sound like a corpse is trudging through dirt. She spends minutes or hours or days counting them to distract herself from thoughts of the world outside of the woods crumbling down like a million dominoes falling to the center where she is now. 

_One task at a time._

It does no good to reflect on what is yet to be done, and she has no energy to reserve for anxiety.

The Koroks come and go. They rustle around above her head and off to the side, shaking the branches. It is getting dark again. The further out she ventures, the less Koroks she encounters. Her mind becomes numb from blocking out every single thought that threatens to destroy her resolve.

If she is dead, then she has an infinite amount of time for that sort of reflection. Her body still glows and her dress, even dirty, is stark against the endless darkness. For some reason, it cannot touch her. She can envision herself now, the lost girl in white and gold, haunting the woods for the rest of her eternity. It sounds so poetic when she thinks of it this way. It depresses her immensely. This is not what she was supposed to amount to.

Heavy fog wraps around her, and she almost cries, but she cannot. Her heart has given up on rising and falling. It sits in her chest with a slow and steady beat. The fog clears, and relief settles over her as the path remains the same. But the air has shifted. If it were possible, it becomes more still, and it feels like time is a physical entity pressing into her, suppressing her.

The avoidance of her thoughts causes her mind to open a new chamber. Or is it the darkness playing tricks on her? She sees herself separate from her body as a ghost figure. She sees Link as well. But no, it isn’t quite them. The two apparitions do not resemble them exactly, but somehow, she knows it to be them. They are standing together, facing one another. This version of her is so tall and regal. Her expression is grave but certain - the expression of a queen who has led her people to victory. She is beautiful in a way that cannot be replicated. She holds her hand out to that Link. He places something in her palm. She presses the object to her lips, and they fade away.

Zelda turns her head and sees them again. She is standing behind him as he pushes a sword in stone. Several different scenes in varying shapes of her and Link as children and adults play out in front of her. She stares in hazy bewilderment and awe, unable to begin to comprehend what she sees. What does it mean? Who is showing her this and why? For an unknown reason, each one increases her melancholy.

Unable to bare it anymore, she turns away from the fleeting scenes. The water is so dark that she cannot tell if it is murky or not. She dips her hands beneath the surface and splashes herself in the face. Before she can taste it, she is caught off guard by a hand rising from beneath the dark depths and gripping her by the wrist tightly. She has no time to react. No time to properly shout. Her entire body is jerked forward, and she is pulled into the still water. She holds her breath as it pours over her head and drowns out her senses.

  
  


* * *

  
  


_There was a night not so long ago when Zelda was able to pretend to be an ordinary woman. The most intimate details of it would forever be committed to her memories. The white dress. The grief and vulnerability she had laid at Link’s feet. The way he held her. His hands all over her._

_It was all so horrible, then wonderful. She exited the spring after twenty-four hours of pleading to the Goddesses or anyone who would listen. Her wet dress and the chilly night air caused her to shiver violently as she walked across the dry mud with pruned feet. Spiritual emptiness, fatigue and hunger left her as a husk of a human being. She was unworthy. The desire to be simple had never been stronger. And there was Link waiting faithfully for her return. He had just finished slicing a pear and handed a piece to her immediately, completely unfazed by the embarrassing failure he had just witnessed._

_With frustrated tears in her eyes, she brought up her hand to accept the slice of pear. Instead of taking it, she reached for his hand and held it. The next, she admits, is a bit of a blur. All she remembers is his hands peeling the wet dress over her thighs. The sight of his perfectly sculpted body as he removed his own clothes. How insecure his physical perfections made her in comparison to the soft fat around her hips and the thickness of her thighs._

_This was always the case. She always felt inferior to him. But he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she was delighted by the look of wonder on his face and the tender way he caressed her in those places. He had always ignored her flaws in every aspect of their lives._

_She had threaded her fingers through his loose hair as he pushed into her as gently as possible. This is what ordinary women do, she remembers thinking as he held her there and slid in the warmth between her legs. The pain had come and gone quickly and was replaced with pleasure. She relaxed beneath him and momentarily forgot her own heavy name._

_  
_

_There was one particular movement that hit her in just the right place and then hit it again and again. She couldn’t remember anything but blinding waves of pleasure. Then, the erotic sight of him pulling out and spilling semen onto her thigh. He had squeezed her hip tightly, placing needy kisses on her lips as this happened. They held each other throughout the rest of the cold night. She stayed naked as her dress laid out to dry._

_Everything was back to normal the next day, and she refused to think of it again because neither of them could afford to feel anything. She never unwrapped how she truly felt about Link._

_Figures of authority don’t fornicate outside in the wilderness. By all rights, it should’ve happened on her wedding night in the bedroom of a high tower with a warm, romantic fireplace nearby. Or worse, she’d never be touched because she was going to die young and be revered as some great figure in history. She cheated this one moment out of her carefully planned life. Forever, she would be grateful to Link for giving her this special moment. And really, it could only be him because he was the only person in the world holding intimate relation to her burden reaching across countless lifetimes._

_What had Link been thinking? Likely the same thing as her. That they are all fucked because the princess cannot fulfill her role. What else was there to do but act on your final wishes? And she had eagerly made herself available to him._

  
  


* * *

Zelda turns and twists, blindly fighting against the iron grip pulling her further and further under. She doesn’t know how far she is from the surface. The adrenaline keeping her motivated is fading, and she feels lost to the heaviness of the deep waters, utterly helpless to its constriction of her mobility. 

Her awareness starts to waver as she becomes a part of it. She opens her eyes, looking through the bleariness of her vision. The hands that hold her have multiplied. Dread settles over her as she recognizes each and every pair. Urbosa has her wrapped in a tight embrace from behind, pressing her tall, strong body against Zelda’s back. Mipha is below her, gripping her ankles with bone breaking strength. Revali hovers above blocking out her view of the surface. Daruk floats in front of her with his hands on her shoulders. He stares into her face with the saddest eyes she has ever seen.

Her heart shatters, and guilt kills the last of her sense of self preservation. Link, the Link she knows, is behind Daruk with his back facing her. She has lost the will to reach for him. Zelda only wants to sink with all of them. And oh how lovely that would be to follow them down. 

But Link needs her. There is still hope for him. He is their last chance for salvation.

_Link!_ She shouts. The bubbles shoot from her opened mouth and float upwards. She writhes violently in the grasp of her champions.

Zelda kicks herself free at last, pushing past Revali. With her arms and legs, she propels herself towards the surface. They all look up and watch her go as she leaves them behind in the inky blackness. Their features become indistinct as she puts distance between herself and them. Their eyes glow, and it is the last part of them she is able to see.

She breaks the surface with a sharp gasp for air. The water is dead calm as if it is does not host a dwelling for demons on its floor. A snarl from her pursuer alerts her of the danger she is still in. Likely the thing that pulled her under. 

She paddles herself away, searching desperately for the solid land. It’s hard to see, but she can hear the snarl getting closer and closer, and she realizes that she cannot outswim it. She takes a breath and braces herself for an attack that she cannot defend herself against. The air shifts and her stomach drops. The thing swings it’s arms at her. She raises a hand to block herself, and the glowing eyed creature is burned on impact. It screeches loud and harshly. Even after it backs off, it writhes in pain, for her gold energy has already sunk beneath its flesh and is wreaking havoc on its insides.

She swims away as it continues to flail and suffer very loudly. Its skin is broken and withered like a decaying corpse. Purple energy flows out of the cracks as the last of its pain is drawn out of it. The creature lets go of its false life and sinks back down beneath the calm waters. Where the water has separated, it closes back up like quicksand. No ripples. No movement.

Zelda releases a sigh of relief and gracelessly pulls herself to the dry land. She lays down on her back as she strives to catch her breath. There are no stars here. As she looks up, she thinks that the sky looks just like the bottom of the lake. She is trapped in a black hole. A fitting place for her. She giggles to herself. Her innocent giggling eventually turns into a manic laughter that goes on and on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! <3 I hope you enjoy this weirdness of a Zelink fic.  
> Excuse any errors or typos. I plan to do a more thorough job of cleaning it up later.


	3. Reaching for Heaven

_‘The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon! The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon! The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon! The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon! The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon! The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon! The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon! The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon!’_

The beggar’s chanting rings throughout Zelda’s head _._ It taps harshly against the inside of her skull over and over as she lays in the slop like a miserable pig. 

What ever happened to the beggar?

_He stumbled through the street, hysterical in his maddening enlightenment. The people parted to clear a path for him. His eyes darted through the air, seeming to see what no one else could. He grasped a young woman’s shoulders, shaking her. He chanted in her face as she shied away, attempting to remove herself from his desperate grip._

Zelda brings her hands to her face and rubs down, streaking mud along her cheeks with her fingers.

_‘The darkness is out! Beware of the blood moon!’_

She realizes these words have been coming from her own mouth, not just from her memories.

_‘Let us never forget! A hero will rise. And a priestess with the power to seal darkness away!’ The young preacher countered, speaking above the beggar, giving the people hope. They cheered at this predetermined victory. Pride filled the young Zelda’s chest, for she would be the one to bring the people salvation._

Those same people will all be dead soon.

She thinks of her faceless husband whom she will never have the chance to marry. And her five babies – all dead before taking their first breaths. Her womb feels black and empty. Womanhood has left her as her spirit forsakes her body.

_What a selfish thought to have as the entire world is falling apart._

Maybe if she had treated the people of Hyrule as her children (as she should have) this would never have gone so far. Her people were supposed to be her children. She is a warm, fleshy representation of the goddesses, not an individual of her own.

She wishes Link were still here so she could ask him if he had ever thought of himself as an individual and not a slave to the all-encompassing universe. He hardly gave any implication that he did. It is still exasperating although it is different in that it no longer riles the monster living inside of her.

There was a time when the mere thought of Link set her alight with contempt. She could never quite define the line separating her resentment from her admiration for him. It just all came out in cruel demonstrations of her vicious nature, but he took the verbal abuse as if this too was a part of his duty. 

Now she is left with the mountain of her guilt.

The mud beneath her sinks from her weight. Underneath the thick covering of leaves, there is a universe in this swirling gray mist. She sees so many beginnings and endings. Time is stagnant as it simultaneously moves forward in front of her. Outside of this place, the blood red moon will give way to a black dawn.

Zelda rolls to her side and lifts herself from the soft ground. She slides in her sandals as she stands to her feet. Her body protests against her by sending sharp pangs throughout her muscles. Even her bones resist the tug against them. She fills her water container and closes the lid. The creaking noise it makes cuts through the dead silence of the lake. Zelda winces at the reminder that she is still here.

There isn’t a conceivable way to make up for being empty when you were expected to bleed after being cut open. The young, silly Zelda had disappeared somewhere inside her. 

Where was she hiding?

* * *

_The worst part of her futile praying was having to disappoint everyone each time she returned empty. Mipha looked upon her with heartbreaking pity. Urbosa was grave and silent. Daruk indulged in his nervous gesturing. Revali’s unvoiced disapproval was palpable._

_‘The Goddesses have turned their backs on you yet again.’ Zelda’s father observed her expression of frustrated resignation. She could not meet his eyes._

_‘Yes, father. I called to them, but they did not answer. I do not understand. Perhaps I am not the one after all.’ Her head was turned to the side. She spoke her shame to the wall._

_‘Or perhaps you are, but you are lacking in something vital.’ He spoke this gutting truth._

_Zelda’s face burned. ‘I know that! But how am I supposed to know what it is I am lacking? I cannot exactly ask the Goddesses. They will not hear anything I have to say.’ She spoke faster in her defensive frustration._

_‘You must figure it out. It is your duty to prove your worth to them. You are the one. I need not remind you what rests on your shoulders.’ He raised his voice._

_‘Father!’ Zelda turned to face him in her red-faced exasperation. ‘I have been trying as hard as I possibly can! You know this! What is it? What do you think I am lacking?” She searched him for answers. Her eyes darted around his stern face._

_‘I cannot tell you! It will not do anything if I were to give you the answers, and you not discover them for yourself. Your mother and I have tried to lead by example. If that is not enough, then you need to seek answers elsewhere.’ He crossed his arms over his broad chest._

_Forgetting herself and her royal etiquette, she ran past her father and out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Like the annoying pest she thought him to be, Link stayed at her heels as she ran to the courtyard. He had the decency to look away as she threw her childish tantrum, storming around and throwing things._

_Still, in that awful moment, she wanted to break him. Whatever it was she lacked, it was apparent that he did not. For that, she was bitter and resentful towards him. How could he be blessed with perfection without having to put forth painful effort? What was so special about him? Why did the Goddesses look upon him with such favor? And just what was that damned vital thing she lacked?_

* * *

Falling into complacency is incredibly dangerous and foolish. Zelda spent the entirety of her life doing everything in her power to not be complacent. She never realized that complacency was nestled in her heart where it was left to fester. It was the jealousy and hatred she allowed entry when there should have been no room for it. 

Her complacency was also her unwillingness to be anything more than the girl who experienced love through a glass wall, like admiring a rare beast in confinement. Though Link did not love in the way that could be expressed in words, he did so in a way that suggested it was instinctive. Love was duty. Love was absolute. Love was unchanging and irreversible. In the end, it was the only thing to be relied on.

That was the silent message expressed through his touch. It was the only way in which Zelda had been ready to communicate her pain. He understood her hurt, and after that night, she understood him. She regrets never telling him that she understands.

* * *

Zelda stomps her way down the path rolled out like a dirty tongue. She feels much like a great forest ogre, seeking out a place to eat dinner and squat to piss. If she cannot stay married to her mortality, then she has no way to keep track of passing time. So, she continues to indulge her body in the things she knows it should want.

Over her shoulder, she can feel the shadows of her past lives, and up ahead, the demons of her future closing in to meet her. Its tiresome work to entertain these guests at dinner, she sees. Where her power has failed her, her audacity has not. She does not shy away from any of it as she bites into her flavorless jerky. Her jaw works furiously as she stares out into the great nothingness of her present.

She stares hard enough to fall into a sightless trance. Another mysterious breeze raises the skin of her arms into tiny bumps. Her stomach lifts and separates in her chest. It hasn’t been long since she was swayed by the power calling out to her. If it happens again, she does not know if she will be able to stumble her way out this time.

But no. It is something entirely different.

Zelda can feel the very roots beneath her curling and uncurling beneath the dirt. She knows the woods have woken from a long slumber. They respond to her plight. The beating heart of the Great Deku Tree is pounding against the soles of her feet. She realizes that the wind is its breath. It breathes harder and harder, pushing the demons and shadows away. Zelda’s hair whips wildly around her face. All the doors of her brain open up. Dreams leak from the open doors, dripping down her spine and pooling in the center of her body. She wipes the sweat from her cleavage. The dreams coil in her stomach making it feel as though she swallowed thick, unsavory syrup.

“Great Deku Tree.” She calls out through her haze. “I am lacking.”

The ground rattles, then sighs. The wind lifts and drops again.

“Are you really though?” The Godlike voice comes from the sky. It takes up the passageways of her mind, leaving no room for other thoughts. “Think carefully on what you speak, for your words hold much more power than you know. As you say, so it shall be.”

“Great Deku Tree, it wasn’t I who said it. This was prophesized. It has already been written. I will walk a different path than the ones who have come before me. I am lacking in something vital. Something they did not lack. I…never had the chance to learn what that vital something is….”

“Is this what you believe?” 

“I would like to think not. But, it is so. Otherwise, I would not be here right now.” Zelda presses her palm to her chest. “The cycle ends here.”

“Oh, but it’s not over yet. How can you of all people be so willing to bend to a prophecy?”

“But, am I not already dead? It is exactly as the prophet I encountered so many years ago said.”

“You are the princess of destiny carrying the will of the Goddess. It is in your hands as it has always been. Your hero has done his part in clearing the path for you. All that’s left is to take back what is rightfully yours.”

“But how?” She understands what he is saying but has no specifics of the how aspect. All logistics aside, its very wrong to be a purveyor of jealousy and spite as you take the entire world’s supply in your hands. It’s not hers. She should not own it.

“You must transcend to the place bordering this world and the next. You will abandon your human form and become the pure will of the Goddess. But, first you must complete the trials to prove you are worthy. Meet me at the center of Korok Forest.” The Great Deku Tree lifts his presence back up into the sky, and with that, the winds cease, and the world goes back to its frozen state. Ghosts and darkness surround her once again.

_Its almost time to sleep._

She knows this. She has been knowing this since she took her first step into the Lost Woods. She also knows that she isn’t going to heaven. Hopefully one day, she will find her way there. Hundreds of years is a long time, but its nothing compared to a whole damned eternity.

* * *

_A woman inspired by affection moves very differently from a woman driven by fear. To Zelda, the differences between her and Mipha showed in many ways - the tones they took when speaking, the ways in which they looked upon flowers, even in how they enacted violence. Mipha’s grace. Her power was called that for a reason._

_Mipha laid on her back near the pond in a patch of wildflowers gazing forward in that absent, dreamy expression of hers. Bright yellows and deep greens brushed against her arms and legs. The clean scent of grass and florals surrounded them like a mother’s embrace in a warm kitchen. Zelda sat next to her, studying her face with scientific curiosity. Mipha either didn’t notice or did an excellent job of pretending not to._

_‘What are you thinking of when you have that look about you?’ Zelda asked her._

_Mipha’s head turned to face her. She had the uncomfortable look of one who has been caught doing something strange. Zelda felt that she had intruded upon her thoughts and recoiled._

_‘I mean, you really don’t have to tell me. It is not my business.’ She quickly tried to erase the tension she accidentally created._

_After a few moments of silence, Mipha’s face twisted into something thoughtful. ‘‘Your highness, I don’t mind telling you. I think you may understand one day. It is that I am in love.’_

_‘In love?” Zelda asked as if she had no notion of the concept. ‘What is that like?’_

_‘Oh, it’s really hard to explain. But once you feel it, you know it. It’s an instinct. Something that lives inside all of us waiting to be released from an unopened cavern in our hearts.’_

_Her explanation had only confused Zelda even more. ‘That sounds…I don’t know. Strange?’_

_‘It’s wonderful…but…’_

_‘But what?’_

_‘Its just difficult when it must be locked away. I should not be thinking of such silly dreams until I fulfill my role in the sealing away of calamity ganon.’ Mipha looked uncharacteristically wistful._

_‘It must be hard to lock your feelings away.’ Zelda knew exactly how she felt. She looked down as she twisted her hair between her fingers. Her legs curled beneath her as she sat on her hip._

_‘I’m thankful. Whatever happens, I will be grateful for the moments given to me. Especially the ones with this special person.’_

_Zelda swallowed her bitter words before they crawled up her throat. Mipha reached into the tender, beating heart of the world and cradled it to her chest. She let it bleed out all over her fine gold and jewels. Wherever goodness existed, Mipha would find it because this was her essence. Like a wild eyed animal, Zelda slashed through layers upon layers of evil, unable to find the bottom because she lacked the ability to see in the dark._

_‘Well, I will pray extra that we all fulfill our roles so you can indulge in your silliness.’ Zelda smiled. At the very least, she meant this from the bottom of her heart. If anyone deserved bleeding love, it was Mipha._

_‘Thank you, your highness.’ She smiled back._

* * *

_Perhaps, we will understand one another when we meet in the sky. Until then, lets hold hands and pray and cry -_

The vision of Mipha lying in the damp, morning grass next to a sparkling pond tears into shreds and blows away, far out of Zelda’s reach. She stretches her arm out to clutch at the torn fragments and pull them into her chest. Even if she can never piece them back together, she wants to carry them. They float past her fingers and sink into the dirt. She stares open mouthed at the ground before choking back a defeated sob. Her hand stays in the air.

If the cycle doesn’t end here, then what will they be left with? All the images of the people, animals and flowers have broken into microscopic shards and have already been buried. They have reverted back to their most basic forms. Her agony will be the only thing that survives this, and soon, it will be a deity in itself. Unless she becomes the pure will of the Goddess.

Zelda looks down at the glittering pieces of Mipha one last time. She can’t see them, but she can _feel_ them. They look back at her as if they are patiently waiting for her to move. The problem is she is stuck to the ground.

_I’m thankful. Whatever happens, I will be grateful for the moments given to me._

But why? Why shouldn’t they want _more?_

In the universe, here is something so profound that will never die. Zelda realizes this as she prays and cries over the pieces of Mipha. No matter what they will be reduced to, it will still be there. When their bodies have dried up and are no longer distinguishable, it will be in the blank spaces where no one has dared to go. From where it lies in wait, it will emerge to devour this world like a raging forest fire. The cycle will never end.

She takes her first step forward. The trials are waiting. Its almost time to sleep.


End file.
